House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael McCaul has released a statement blasting the U.S. State Department for awarding $20,600 to an Ecuadorian nonprofit for promoting “diversity and inclusion” by funding drag shows in the region.
In a statement about the grant, Rep. McCaul said that “this administration seems more invested in drag shows and diversity than national security.”
“This is another example of reckless spending, demonstrating just how out of touch the Biden administration is regarding domestic and foreign policy priorities,” the congressman wrote. “Russia has invaded Ukraine; the Chinese Communist Party has increased its belligerence towards Taiwan and continues to assert its malign influence across the globe.”
The representative urged the Biden administration to focus on “issues that matter” instead of their “woke agenda.”
“Yet this administration is focused on funding drag shows in Ecuador?” Rep. McCaul asked. “This administration seems more invested in drag shows and diversity than national security. It’s time Democrats in Congress and the Biden administration focus on the issues that matter, not their ‘woke agenda.’”
The congressman also sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting more information about the grant.
“This award raises significant questions about the department’s grantmaking decisions and the Biden administration’s overall views of U.S. foreign policy objectives in the region,” McCaul wrote. “It is difficult to imagine how the department determined that funding ‘drag theater performances’ would be a worthwhile use of taxpayer dollars or consistent in any way with the program objectives outlined above.”
The grant was awarded to the nonprofit in order to “promote diversity and inclusion” by hosting three workshops, 12 drag theater performances, and producing a two-minute-long documentary.
A spokesperson for the State Department has defended the award, arguing that it will “advance key U.S. values of diversity and the inclusion of LGBTQI+ communities” and identifying it as part of “a wide range of strategic programs in Ecuador that incorporate concepts from diversity, inclusion, and representation to equity and accessibility.”
Rep. McCaul noted that the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance lists the objectives of the Public Diplomacy Programs under which the grant was awarded as to “support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world.”
The congressman added that it “is difficult to imagine how the department determined that funding ‘drag theater performances’ would be a worthwhile use of taxpayer dollars or consistent in any way with the program objectives outlined above.”
The post Rep. McCaul: American Taxpayers Should Not Be Funding Democrats ‘Woke Agenda’ Overseas appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.